Boating; Better New or Old

The old versus the new is always a heated subject. Was boating better back 29 years ago or is it better today? Are we spoiled by technology or endangered by the leap in electronic navigation? Are boats built better today?

In ancient China, the emperor wanted one absolute truth to be enscripted on his burial shrine. So he sent out a decree that every wise person in the land should put aside their work and come up with one indisputable truth. I wonder if we consumers could demand one boat builder build the absolute best boat? Does that concept even exist? Forgive my reaching for an idea!

When I came to SW Florida 29 years ago the old timers were talking about the good old days. They remembered when fish jumped into their boats and everyone knew on which side of the channel to stay. Since I only have twenty nine years in which to remember, I am at a disadvantage. Despite my advanced stage of senility, what I can remember was better.

Better, if only in the fact that there were less people around. Not to say that I don’t like people, I do but there is a point of over saturation that can and will be reached soon. How smug we used to feel when we visited Dade or Broward counties. We were proud of our sleepy little west coast Florida hometowns. Now we are the victims of Florida east coast overpopulation.

Things were better in the boating game because there were more marinas and fewer boats. Boating on the weekend was still possible. Less knowledgeable boaters were ridiculed into safe boating classes by fellow boater. Today newcomers buy a boat and join a boating club where they sign up for cruises and learn from mistakes corrected by cruise leaders. Anyone who agrees to lead a cruise anywhere will quickly regret their efforts.

When did the pride of knowledge go out of fashion? Recently, a complete stranger proudly admitted to me, over a beer at Matanzas Inn and Restaurant, that he had never had, nor ever would take a safe boating class. He had recognized me from the column/blog and felt compelled to show me the depths of his idiocy. And so, after a mild rebuke from me, I watched him leave the restaurant in his boat. It was painfully evident that he’d told me the truth. He’s one of the reasons things were better back then.

I suppose that there isn’t any one perfect design of boat just like cars. We all have our own preference. I believed once that Boston Whaler was the perfect boat until I came across the Grady White. Then I realized that the deeper V and the lack of foam filling in the hull allowed for a better offshore ride and room to turn around in the cuddy cabin. Since that day I have seen a hundred knock-offs of the Grady White but only a few of the Boston Whaler.

Hell, the perfect boat may actually be a wooden boat. Okay, you're laughing but the cost of fiberglass boats has exploded. Wood pricing on the other hand has been stable and it is renewable. Sure it is expendable and biodegradeable but that is also it's attractivness. Most wood butchers could knock a small one together in there garage. Now that would be the good old days?

The old days had more Mullet; can anyone explain that to me? Several years ago we Floridians banned the gill net and the only species to benefit were the Jacks! They thrive on finger Mullet and are everywhere. Before the net ban we used to cast net for Mullet in narrow cuts deep in the mangroves. It wasn’t unusual to fill half a small boat in an afternoon. The smoke houses would trade two fish for one smoked fish. If you haven’t eaten smoked mullet and drank cold beer on a hot day then you must be a recent transplant from Ohio.

Remember the ancient emperor? His search was rewarded by a simple student who gave him the right answer, “..and this too shall change.” We Floridians know that life was better before four Hurricanes striking our state in a short period of time, the free fall real estate market and the great recession. These disasters may have helped rich people buy up more poor people’s land. I was once deluded into believing that insurance rates were the only way to slow development but I was way wrong. I’m not sure how long this new boom-boom phenomenon will last but I pray that we don't allow the banks to fuck us once again. Oh wait, they are already!

To answer my initial question in my definitive manner, things were absolutely better in the old days in some ways but they were worse too! The standard of living was not nearly as good and boats were less reliable and a lot of really nice people weren’t here. It is part of human nature to forget the bad and remember the good. And that has been the point of this column. I think…

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